University of Sussex
Browse
Berenhaus_in_press.pdf (378.63 kB)

When kids act out: a comparison of embodied methods to improve children's memory for a story

Download (378.63 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 21:49 authored by Molly Berenhaus, Jane Oakhill, Jennifer Rusted
Over the last decade, embodied cognition, the idea that sensorimotor processes facilitate higher cognitive processes, has proven useful for improving children's memory for a story. In order to compare the benefits of two embodiment techniques, active experiencing (AE) and indexing, for children's memory for a story, we compared the immediate recall of different types of idea units across three conditions. Participants were between the ages of 7 and 11 and were randomly allocated to experimental conditions. The experimental groups were matched on comprehension ability and age. In the indexing condition, children acted out a short story using a playset (i.e., a Playmobil® playset with figurines), in the AE condition, children read the story using enactment, and during the control condition, children simply read the story. We predicted that children in the indexing condition would recall more action-based idea units, whilst children in the AE condition would recall more descriptive and dialogic idea units. Children in the AE condition recalled more descriptive idea units than in the control condition, whilst in the indexing condition, only poorer comprehenders recalled more descriptive information. Our findings suggest that these two embodiment techniques effect different components of reading comprehension and that future research should investigate these differences more specifically.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Journal of Research in Reading

ISSN

0141-0423

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

Issue

4

Volume

38

Page range

331-343

Department affiliated with

  • Psychology Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2015-07-22

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2016-12-16

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2015-07-22

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC